Covering feudalism in Europe and Japan and European appropriation of lands across the globe, Marilyn French poses a provocative question: how and why did women, with no power or independence, nourish and preserve the family unit and their own culture?

"Filled with fascinating detail and powerful arguments, this second volume of French's massive and valuable work is an example of scholarship and clear vision." —Publishers Weekly

"French gives us grand theory at its best, wading through copious amounts of scholarly data on the histories of civilizations and offering up, in readable prose, an important synthesis. . . . Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries." —Library Journal

"No history you will read, post-French, will ever look the same again" —Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale